We are back in one of those strange sports news cycles where media hosts and fans are forced to have an opinion about labor and economics, better known as collective bargaining agreement negotiations. This time it’s the WNBA’s turn, and FS1’s Nick Wright had a clear message on the most recent episode of his podcast for anyone taking the side of WNBA owners or the commissioner.
During the league’s All-Star weekend in Caitlin Clark’s backyard in Indianapolis, the players banded together to send a message to management, wearing shirts with the inscription “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”
Predictably, many average joes and online commentators took the opportunity to bring up old headlines and talking points around the revenue trends around the WNBA. In a two-sided standoff between owners and players, this means taking the side of ownership.
Speaking directly to these people Tuesday on his What’s Wright with Nick Wright podcast, Wright was blunt “You’re a sucker.”
“General rule of thumb, blind, if workers are trying to extract more money from owners and management … you should be on the workers’ side,” he said.
Before continuing, Nick Wright gave his background.
Growing up in Kansas City, Wright’s father was the president of the firefighters’ union. Public services have always been one of the most unionized sectors of labor, so Wright learned a lot about what unions do and why they matter. He explained that this history infects much of his political worldview, and allows him to see clearly which side he belongs to.
“So many losers are just boot-licking, management sellouts,” he said. “Because they think that one day they might actually be, it’s the same folks that are like, ‘Right now a tax policy that helps the lower class would help me, but what about when I have $50 million and I want to pass that down to my kids?’”
Staking out his position, Wright acknowledged that the WNBA is a long way from being able to pay players the same as their NBA counterparts. But in his mind, “nobody serious” is actually making that argument. Least of all, the actual WNBA players negotiating on the executive committee of the league.
Wright also revealed that he has had surface-level conversations with the group bidding to bring a WNBA team to Kansas City, and it drove home just how much value is being generated by the league’s players right now.
“It ain’t cheap. Right now, people think WNBA is on the uptick. People think it’s a growth industry. Because it is,” Wright said. “So this idea that the players should just be satisfied and this idea that the poor WNBA owners … is there any other capitalistic endeavor … is there any other field in the world where someone of Caitlin Clark’s caliber would make less than $80,000 a year? Think about it. The answer is no, there is not. So it is a little, right now, out of whack.”
With expansion fees checking in at $250 million for the latest round of teams in Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, Nick Wright correctly highlights that the cost of investing and owning a stake in the league is rising. That, in unionized business, typically leads to a windfall for the people creating that value.
“Nobody serious can actually think that Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers making $70-some grand a year, is a proper payment for services rendered,” Wright said before reiterating his main point:
“And again, just a rule of thumb. If there is a labor dispute and you don’t know much about it, I’m not saying the laborers in every labor dispute across the board, 100 percent are right. I’m not saying that. What I am saying is … if your gut reaction is to side with ownership, you’re a sucker.”
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